The next Invasion-Rachel s Return
by Freline
Summary: The crew of the Rachel manages to get on the Blade Ship and save Ax from the One. Their ship is badly damaged, but they miracously get back to Earth, only to stumble right into the next alien invasion.
1. Chapter 1

By the time it got dark, Cassie had left Ronnie far behind. All thoughts of their beginning relationship had disappeared after she had said goodbye to Jake, possibly forever. As she watched him leave, she had realized that whatever she had felt for Ronnie was nothing like the way she had loved Jake. She had thought that she had gotten over him, but that had just been a delusion of herself.

When she returned to their home, he was already asleep and Cassie thought it was better this way. Silently she walked into the bedroom, trying not to wake him, but he heard her anyway. She just said: "I am tired. We will talk tomorrow." Then she ignored his confused questions, rolled to the side and fell asleep.

When she woke up next morning, Ronnie was already awake, sitting at the table in the kitchen, waiting for her. He had prepared her favourite breakfast as though he believed he had done something wrong. Cassie did not want to disappoint him, so she ate automatically, even though it tasted like ashes. After she had finished and put the plates in the dishwasher, she looked at him, took a deep breath and said: "Ronnie, I am sorry, I really am, but I can not do this any longer, it is not fair to you. I have realized now that I only used you to fill the gap that Jake has left.

You deserve someone that loves you the way you love me. It is better for both of us if we break it up now, before we do something we might regret later on."

Ronnie just stared at her. After a while he left the kitchen angrily. Cassie heard him open the wardrobe upstairs and buried her head in her hands. She only looked up again after she heard the door slam and Ronnie´s car pull away. She kept herself busy until it was time to go to work. The Hork-Bajir population had grown so fast that they would probably have to get relocated soon and she needed to talk to Toby about the best place where they could live and if it was better to let them all move together or split them up and let one half stay in Yellowstone and move the other half somewhere else, maybe to Yosemite or the Olympic National Park.

But that was not the only one of Cassie´s problems at the moment. Last month there had been a riot at the space port in New York, as a group of heavily armed men tried to attack Andalite tourists halfway into the arrival area. They had given up quickly after some of them had tails from nearby guards to their throats, but Cassie feared it might be only the beginning of spreading hate against their allies.


	2. Chapter 2

As they approached the Blade Ship, everyone on the Rachel, except Menderash, was halfway into cockroach morph. By the time they crashed the morphs were finished and they could barely feel the impact. When all of them were sure it was safe, they demorphed and looked around.

The cockpit was completely destroyed, Menderash was still sitting in the chair, but he was definitely dead.

The Rachel was wedged into the Blade Ship and would never fly again, but the crash had opened a part of the hull where they could walk through without problems. Once they had entered the other ship, they split into groups. Jeanne and Santorelli were going to try to distract the Yeerks, while Jake, Marco and Tobias went to search and hopefully rescue Ax.

It did not take long until they were confused. They could not shake the feeling that the One, whoever that was, was playing with them. The corridors they were walking along constantly changed and led them to a dead end more than once. After what seemed like an eternity, they finally reached the bridge and there he was. He still had the form of Ax, looking exactly the same like he had been when they had last seen him. As they came closer, the face of their old friend split and showed that ugly mouth from earlier again.

They formed a line in front of him, even Tobias had morphed human. In thought-speech he said to the others: "If we must die now, then I will die as human. If I meet Rachel again in the afterlife, I will not live with her as a hawk." When they took each other by the hands and moved forward, the One looked from one to the other, seemingly distracted. It took only a moment, then he was focused again. But then it was already too late, Tobias had jumped at him, grabbed one of Ax´ hands and pulled him forward.

The One shuddered, flickered and then it was over. Ax turned all four eyes towards them as though he could not believe what just happened.,

He took a step in their direction and stumbled, only Tobias´ quick reaction kept him from falling. All four of them walked away from the bridge, to search for Jeanne and Santorelli. In the meantime, Ax started to explain: "The One was a creation of a long dead race, it was a computer program that was supposed to act as a partner or a friend to the users. But it malfunctioned and instead of providing company to his creators, the creators became company to him, he found a way to make them a part of himself to become stronger. Eventually the ones who were left noticed this and put him on a ship that was programmed to fly through space for all eternity. The ones who were left were not enough to keep the race alive. During the flight, he came across other ships, the crews sent out boarding partys that became part of the One, like me and then the ships were destroyed, to prevent rescue, like the Intrepid was."

He turned and walked away. Jake started to follow him, but he was stopped by Tobias´ hand on his arm, who said: "Let him go, he lost his entire crew. He needs to grieve in private, I just hope he handles it better than I did when Rachel died. It was not your fault, Jake. I know that now, I know she would have gone even if you did not tell her to."

Jake slowly turned to Tobias. He did not expect this confession and he was stunned when Tobias came towards him and hugged him, like he had never done before. He suddenly felt like something had been taken off his shoulders, a weight he did not even realize he had carried.

But that did not stop him from thinking about the problem of going back to Earth. They could not use the Rachel anymore, so they would have to use the Blade Ship, but as he did not know how many Yeerks were aboard that would have to wait for later until he could ask Ax about that.


	3. Chapter 3

Sam was sitting in the back of his father´s truck, trying to keep himself awake. They had been driving for hours and now they were getting close to Santa Monica, the town where they had agreed to stay for the night. John, who was sitting next to Six, suddenly pointed to a sign that read: "Rachel Berenson memorial, 5 miles." Clearly he had a feeling that it was important to go there, so they turned left instead of going into the town. As soon as they had arrived, John got out of the car and approached the memorial. No one was there, but lots of flowers were lying around, all with notes attached. He picked up one and read: "Happy birthday, Rachel. It has been a year since you died, but we still miss you terribly. Love, Cassie, Jake, Tobias, Marco and Ax."

He put it down again gently and turned his eyes to the memorial. It was made out of a single stone and in the middle was a picture of a smiling blonde girl that looked so much like Sarah that John almost cried. Beyond it were the words: "Rachel Berenson, hero of the human-yeerk war. May she rest in peace."

John frowned, he had been on Earth for over ten years, but he had never heard of something called Yeerks and the stone was still looking new, so it must have been put up only recently. He heard Sam and Six coming up behind him. They both looked at the memorial as well, but even Sam, the alien expert, had never heard of them. They turned to leave as Six started to yawn but before they had gotten very far, they heard a noise behind them and looked back.

Out of nowhere the girl from the picture had appeared, looking very confused as though she could not believe that she was here. She did not notice them and called out: "Where am I? Ellimist, have you brought me here? Is this another of the stupid games between you and Crayak? Ellimist, if you can hear me, answer! " She did not receive an answer from whoever she had called and came straight towards them, angrily. She was a few metres away and they were getting ready to get out of the way, when she finally noticed them.

Her face immediately lost the angry expression and now she seemed very embarrassed. She pushed past them and muttered to herself: "Great, Rachel. You are coming back from the death after you have killed your own cousin. You do not even know why and the first you do is making a fool of yourself in front of strangers." Then suddenly she turned as if she had just realized something, looked at them suspiciously and asked: "You are Controllers, are you? You came to destroy everything that reminds of your defeat, yes? Well, you will not have a chance. Everyone knows that you are just pathetic slugs without your hosts."

She did not wait for an answer and stormed away, leaving three confused teenagers behind. Before she got out of earshot, Six came back to her senses and called after her: "Rachel, wait. We come from far away. Please explain what you mean. What are Yeerks?" Rachel stopped abruptly and waited for them to catch up to her. She looked like she could not believe that they had never heard of Yeerks, but she explained anyway: "Years ago, my best friend Cassie, my cousin Jake, his best friend Marco and a boy from our school called Tobias were walking home from the mall. We took a shortcut through an abandoned construction site, when we saw an alien spaceship crash. The pilot, his name was Elfangor and he was a member of a race called Andalites, gave us the power to turn into any animal we wanted to be, to keep up the fight against the Yeerks, parasitic slugs, who can take over the mind of almost every species in the galaxy. Elfangor was killed shortly after, but we continued to fight and eventually rescued Elfangor´s brother Ax from the bottom of the ocean. He joined us, we taught him to pass as human after he had taken on human form and he became our friend. Where do you come from that you never heard from any of this? Please, do not tell me that you are aliens as well."

Upon seeing their faces, she groaned: "Of course you are, that must be why I was brought back, to help defeat another alien invasion, is that correct, Ellimist?" Almost immediately there was a popping noise and an old man appeared. He smiled and told Rachel: "Yes, you are right, that is why I brought you back. You need to get together with your friends again and tell them that it is very important. But this time you have one advantage as the enemy does not live in the bodies of another species. I will leave it to your new friends to explain the rest."

With that, he disappeared. Rachel shouted: "They are not my friends. Ellimist, come back immediately. I am sick of your cryptic answers."

There was no reaction. Rachel sighed and said to the others: "Well, since we are expected to fight together, can any of you give me something to write?" Six pulled a piece of paper out of her bag and handed it to her. Rachel wrote several phone numbers on it and told them: "As soon as I have convinced my friends that I am alive again and not a piece of their imagination you can reach me on each of these numbers." With that, she walked away, leaving John, Sam and Six staring after her. They had not gotten to explain anything about themselves and the Mogadorians, but they assumed that could wait after they met Rachel´s friends, so they would only have to give the same explanation once.


	4. Chapter 4

Rachel waited until it was night, before she approached the meadow where Tobias used to live. There was no way to tell how much had changed since her death, so it was a chance that he was not there anymore, but it was a good place to start looking for her friends. Like she had expected, there was no red-tailed hawk anywhere. The place directly under his tree, where Ax´ scoop used to be was also empty. But that was no surprise, he would have gone home after the war and probably had become a hero on the Andalite homeworld in the meantime.

She tried the house of Cassie´s parents next, but it was dark and the windows were cracked which suggested that they had moved out a long time ago. Frustrated, she morphed into owl and took off into the night sky. Her next destination was the house of Jake´s parents.

Luckily they were still there and at home. Rachel landed on a tree next to an open window and listened to what they were talking about.

She heard his mother say: "I do not know how much longer I can believe he will return. It has been four months now since he disappeared with Marco and Tobias and he did not even tell us exactly where they were going. I do not get why he has to rescue this alien friend of his. Could the Andalites not do it on their own?"

Jake´s father did not respond to that, but Rachel could see that he was hugging her to comfort her. She took off again, she felt that she would only intrude on their personal moment, but her thoughts were racing. Clearly they had been talking about Ax, who was in trouble. But they had only mentioned Marco and Tobias, did that mean Cassie had not gone with them? If her best friend was still alive and still on Earth, Rachel needed to find her and ask her what happened and why she had stayed instead of helping the others. Ax had been her friend as well after all.

She flew around the town for a while until her morph time was almost up, then she returned to Cassie´s old house and hid in the barn. The animals were gone, but there was still enough hay left for Rachel to sleep in. She stayed there until late the next morning and then she morphed to bald eagle and started flying towards the Hork-Bajir colony. If she could find Toby, maybe she would find out if Cassie had survived and where she and her parents were now. Unfortunately the valley where they had once been was empty as well. Rachel sighed and began preparing herself for a long, boring search.


	5. Chapter 5

The Paradise High School had become hell on Earth for Sarah. Everyone except Mark and her best friend Emily was pointing fingers at her and making comments about John, the terrorist. She wished that she could just tell them the truth, but she had given a promise to John to not tell anyone about Lorien, the Mogs or the war. Since Mark was the only one to know what had really happened, she spent her entire spare time with him, talking about ways to help John and the others.

Luckily the summer holidays had started yesterday. She and Mark had told their parents they wanted to go camping together and they had agreed, probably thinking that they were together again. Instead they were planning to find out as much about the Mogadorian activities as they could.

They had said goodbye to them this morning, promising them to be careful and were now driving east towards the sea. They had just stopped at the edge of a forest to eat and drink something, when Sarah spotted the girl. She was hidden halfway behind a tree, probably thinking she was alone. Her blond hair was full of mud and she had wings like an eagle that now disappeared into her shoulders. Then she came out from her hiding place and stopped abruptly when she saw Mark and Sarah watching her. Her face paled and she took off running back into the forest. Mark was a good sprinter due to his football training and he followed her trying to get her to stop but he lost her. All he found was a grizzly on his hind legs and then he rather turned around to prevent an attack.

He returned to Sarah who had finished her lunch by now and was looking at him expectantly. Mark just shrugged and said: "She is gone. I lost her for about a minute and then there was a really angry grizzly getting in my way." Sarah looked thoughtful and replied: "What if she was the bear? I mean we saw her with those wings and until now we have only met John and Six until now. One of the others could have the ability to change into animals. Or she could belong to another group. One year ago, I went to the beach on Santa Monica and everyone there was talking about some people called the "Animorphs." There were pictures of them everywhere and that girl reminded me of one of them. The only problem with that is that she died during some other war, but if it was not her, then she must have a twin sister. I think we will have to go to Santa Monica. If this group is still there, they could help us."


	6. Chapter 6

Ax returned about two hours later, with the morphing cube in his hands and a lot of blood on his tail. He did not say what he had done, but he did not have to. Everyone knew that he had gotten his revenge for the dead crew of the Intrepid. Although they believed that all Yeerks remaining on the ship were dead now, Jake did not want to take any chances and ordered them to split up and look for any possible survivors.

They were done after another hour and found no one left alive. Since they had also defeated the One by pulling Ax away from him, which according to their friend, was the only way to stop him, but no one before them had gotten close enough to be able to do it, they were free to take the Blade Ship back to Earth. After Jeanne and Santorelli had rejoined them, they went to the Rachel with Ax to bring Menderash´s body here, where they would put him in stasis until he could be brought back to the Andalite homeworld. Then they started the Z-Space engines and began the long journey back to Earth.

They arrived there about a week later in the middle of the night, so they were able to land the ship without getting seen by too many people.

Jake chose a place high up in the mountains, not far away from the old Hork-Bajir valley, where they could hide it for some time. They left the ship, morphed into birds and flew down to the city. It was almost midnight when they reached their parents houses, but they were all still awake and got a big shock when they saw their supposedly dead children enter like they were only gone a few hours.

They all spent several hours explaining what happened and then left to give them time to get their heads around it. But the second Jake entered his apartment, he was shocked as well to see that all lights were on and he heard someone in the kitchen. He slowly entered, which the person must have heard, because she turned around and faced him. Upon seeing who it was, Jake closed his eyes and then opened them again. He blinked a few times, but she was still there. Rachel, the cousin he had believed dead, was standing in his kitchen, looking very much alive. He immediately forgot everything around himself and hugged her like he had never done with anyone before.


	7. Chapter 7

Six stayed in the car while John and Sam went looking for a place to stay overnight. She knew that they were probably not coming back for a while, so she let her thoughts drift. She had become closer to Sam during the time they were together, but she also knew that it could never work. One day, after the war, she would return to Lorien and Sam would stay on Earth, which made her jealous of Sarah. The girl did not even know how lucky she was to have a boyfriend like John, who loved her more than his own life. After reading the letter Henri left behind, she had begun to dream about herself in Sarah´s place, which could even have happened if they had been able to stay on Lorien, their parents had been best friends after all.

She was ripped out of her dreams as John and Sam came running back, shouting: "The Mogs are after us. Drive as fast as you can, Six."

She did not even wait until they had closed the door, before she was speeding up as much as she could. They reached the outskirts of the town in under ten minutes, but had at least three police cars following them, trying to get them to stop.

John used this telekinesis to let them all have flat tires and soon they had left them far behind. They stopped at a country road, where an unused haystack was not far away. Again they used telekinesis to open the doors, drove the truck inside and closed them again.

Then they pulled out the sleeping bags and mats they had brought and laid them on the ground for later.

Six got out the food they had been able to take before they had left Paradise. Sarah and Mark had brought them everything they could find, that would be good for some time. They had also raided the kitchen of Henri and Sam´s mother, which got them enough to live from for at least one month.

After they had finished to eat, they slowly got tired. John was the first to fall asleep. Sam and Six watched him for a while and had no doubt he was dreaming of Sarah the way he smiled. It was almost midnight before they finally crawled into their sleeping bags as well. They were out before their heads even touched the ground.


	8. Chapter 8

Sarah and Mark reached Santa Monica the next day. After they had checked into a hotel, they went to unpack and that was when Sarah found the note. It was written in her mother´s handwriting and said: "Sarah, I apologize if this comes as a shock to you. My father was a member of the Garde, he came to Earth forty years ago as part of an exploration team and spent a while with my mother, before he returned to Lorien. At that time he did not know that she had become pregnant with me, he only discovered this ten years later. At that time my mother had married my stepfather and did not want to have contact with him anymore. She did not want him to see me, either, but when I turned sixteen, I began to see things that really happened later. I did not know what to think about that, but my father did. He returned to Earth and helped me getting control of my Legacies. At first I could only see the future, but over time I was also able to duplicate myself, breathe underwater and was able to manipulate temperature. After I mastered them all, my father took me on a trip to Lorien, allowing me to get to know the rest of my family. It was a beautiful planet, it is a shame that you will never see it. Your cousin was not born at that time, but I later heard about the destruction of Lorien and that she was on her way to Earth. I do not know what her number is, nor do I know if you have met her yet. If I see her, I will be able to tell you who she is. You are sixteen now, so it is possible that you will soon develop Legacies of your own.

Whatever happens, never forget that I love you."

Sarah dropped the paper on the floor, she could not believe it. How had her mother been able to keep the fact that she was part alien secret all these years. Thinking back, she realized that her mother had indeed done things that could not be explained, but she had just brushed it off as imagination.

The only female member of the Garde she had met until now was Six, who had told her that only one of the other survivors was female. Number One and Two had been as well but they were already dead. Sarah hoped that her cousin was not one of them, she was really looking forward to meet her.

She laid back on her bed, fully clothed and thought about what Legacies she would like to have, if she received any. The ones her mother had were cool, but she hoped that she would get something that would help John fight the Mogadorians. Later, when Mark knocked on the door, she shot up and realized that she had fallen asleep. Quickly she opened and saw him holding two cartons of pizza, one with ham and mushrooms and the other with ham and pineapple. She decided on the second option and took it out of his hand, before she turned and walked back into the room, leaving him no choice but to follow her. After he had shut the door, he sat down on the chair, while Sarah preferred the floor. While they were eating, she showed him the letter. As he was reading, his eyes grew bigger and bigger. After he was finished, he just stared at her as if he saw her for the first time.


	9. Chapter 9

That night Sarah was lying in her bed, fully awake, when she heard the voice of a man talking directly next to her ear. The problem was that there was no one there. She switched on the light and went to the balcony, sat down and watched the stars while the wind played with her hair. After a while she heard the voice again, this time more urgently, calling out: "I am sorry, Zoe. I am sorry I killed your brother, but I swear it was just an accident." Another voice, female this time, said: "I can not believe he did that to me, we were so close to get our relationship working again, but he ruined it all. This time I will not forgive him, he can go to hell for all I care."

The voices continued to talk all night and by morning Sarah was sure that her mother had been right. Whatever this was had to be part of a developing legacy, maybe telepathy, but to make sure, she needed to return home, talk to her mother and then try to find John. He was the only person she trusted to train her. When Mark knocked on her door to get her for breakfast, she had already packed up. When she told him she was going back to Paradise to talk to her mother, he seemed to be disappointed, but agreed to continue looking for the Animorphs on his own, when she told him that it was possible she was developing her first legacy. Mark drove her to the next train station and waited until she had boarded the train back to Paradise. Before they said goodbye, they promised to keep each other updated.

The train ride was long and boring. Sarah had begun to doze off before they even reached the first stop. Suddenly she was thrown off her seat as the driver hit the brakes. People were yelling and then there were several loud crashes coming from the front. Sarah stood up slowly and walked to the next door, her bag slung over her shoulder. She looked around to see if anyone was watching her, but the other passengers had run towards the driver´s cabin to demand answers. She pulled a fire extinguisher from beyond a seat and started to hit the door with it.

After a few minutes, the glass broke. Sarah threw her bag on the tracks and then climbed out. She picked her bag up and started to run towards the forest on the other side. When she was sure that she had gotten far enough away, she looked back. The train had become a burning wreck and in front of it were some people in black hoods, definitely Mogadorians.

She turned away sadly, praying for all the dead humans, before she continued walking until she was sure that she had lost anyone that might be following her. Still, she needed to be careful. She pulled her mobile out and sent Mark a short message: I am okay, do not worry. I have made it out that train in time. Trying to find another way home."

She continued to walk until it got too dark. Luckily she found an unused shelter for hikers and laid down inside it for the night.


	10. Chapter 10

Adam followed the blond girl in a safe distance. One had thought that she was important somehow and she had always been right, so he would do anything to protect that girl. He reached the shelter a few minutes after her and sat down in front of it. Then he pulled out the blaster he had taken from one of his people he had killed back at the wrecked train. He laid the weapon in the grass beside him, where he could grab it anytime he needed to defend himself.

He waited an hour and then stepped in the shelter slowly. The girl was lying on the floor, deeply asleep. He opened his bag and took out a thick blanket he normally used if he was forced to sleep outside, but right now she needed it more. He picked her up, trying not to wake her and laid her down on it. She squirmed a little, but did not wake up. Adam went outside again to watch for any of his people that might have followed him here. To keep himself from falling asleep he looked into the night sky and counted the stars.

He was awake the whole night and only allowed himself to relax after he heard the girl wake up. She came outside and screamed when she saw him. He quickly put a hand on her mouth and whispered: "Calm down, there might still be some scouts in the area." He let her go after she had stopped screaming and stepped away from her, pointing his blaster at the trees in case there was anyone who heard her. No one came and he put it down in front of him. When he looked at the girl again, her face had become pale. Adam sighed: "You are correct, I am a Mogadorian, but I have protected you last night. Please just give me a chance to tell you my story."

She still seemed sceptical, but she put out her hand towards him and said: "My name is Sarah Hart, I am the girlfriend of Number Four, that is how I know you guys exist. What is yours?"

Adam took Sarah´s outstretched hand and after he had let go again, he replied: "My name is Adamus Sutekh, though my friends call me Adam. I am the son of General Andrakkus Sutekh. Years ago I was part of the group that killed Number One. Afterwards, my father developed a machine that could access the Garde´s minds. I was his test subject, he used me to access her memory. Before that, I was convinced that all Lorics needed to be killed to further Mogadorian process, but after I was hooked up to the machine, One showed me her past and I realized that there had to be a better way than just destroying entire planets, like my people had done with Lorien and were planning doing to Earth. I was left in a coma for three years and after I woke up, I kept seeing One in my mind. Together we tried to stop my people from killing Two and Three, but as you know from your boyfriend, we were unsuccessful. If you allow it, I will accompany and try to protect you until we find Number Four and the others with him again."

Sarah considered this for a while, but then she agreed to trust him for the time being. If he proved to be a traitor later on, after they had met the others, they would not hesitate getting rid of him. If he did not, then it would be helpful to have someone on their side who knew how the enemy thought. She followed Adam to his car that he had parked a short distance away. Sarah put her bag in the trunk and got in the front seat. When she asked her new friend where they were going, he just smiled and said: "A friend of mine that my father does not know about, has a cabin near a lake and lets me use it for free whenever I need it, he does not use it much. I have used it often to hide from whoever is following me."


End file.
